Container opening device comprising a slot and a strip passing through it



Dec. 17, 1968 s. o. s. STARK ETAL 3,416,716 CONTAINER OPENING DEVICECOMPRISING A SLOT AND A STRIP PASSING THROUGH IT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJuly 1, 1966 'mvsmons ATTORNEY Dec. 17,.1968 s. o. s. STARK ETAL3,416,716

CONTAINER OPENING DEVICE COMPRISING A SLOT AND A STRIP PASSING THROUGHIT Filed July 1, 1966 ,2 Sheets'-Sheet 2 3 Fig.3 8

INVENTORS MELLE L Ll N D H ATTORNEY- United States Patent 3,416,716CONTAINER OPENING DEVICE COMPRISING A SLOT AND A STRIP PASSING THROUGHIT Sven Olof Soren Stark, Qvantenborgsvagen 53, Hans- Georg WilhelmMelle, Sunnanvag 180, and Thorsten Lennartson Lindh, Ferievagen 10, allof Lund, Sweden Filed July 1, 1966, Ser. No. 562,300 Claims priority,application Sweden, July 8, 1965, 9,000/ 65 6 Claims. (Cl. 229-7)ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container formed of sheet material havingan opening means. The opening means comprises a U-shaped slot forming atongue in the sheet material'and a separate strip passing through theslot and being secured to one side of the tongue and to the oppositeside of the sheet.

The present invention relates to an opening device for packages or thelike and comprising a slot passing through the packaging material, thecharacteristic feature of the invention being a strip passing throughthe slot and being attached to either side of the packaging material.

This strip is in the first place meant to have two functions, viz. toseal the said slot and in particular its cut surfaces, and to facilitatethe opening of the package by acting as a pulling fiap.

Preferably, the opening device according to the invention is meant to beused in connection with packages of the kind manufactured by pressing atube fiat and sealing it transversely and possibly by shaping itthereafter to for instance parallelepipedic form. This is achieved bygiving a U-shape to the slot, whereby there is formed a tongue beneathwhich the strip is inserted in such a way that its ends will projectthrough the respective legs of the U. The U-sha-ped slot is placed insuch a relation to the lines along which the transverse sealing and theseparation of the packages take place that the bottom of the slot willlie parallel to the said lines, which are preferably caused to extendacross or adjacent the free ends of the legs of the U.

Preferably, both the packaging material and the strip have heat-sealableplastic on both sides, whereby the strip can be attached to either sideof the slot by heat-sealing between two heating jaws, which may e.g. becovered with Teflon. The result is that the strip will seal the cutsurfaces of the packaging material, whose carrying interior intermediatelayer normally consists of a fibrous material which will easily absorbliquid. However, the carrying material of the strip is a material whichdoes not absorb liquid, e.g. regenerated cellulose or the like.Alternatively, on that portion which is located inside the package thestrip may be covered with a plastic layer or the like, which togetherwith a corresponding interior layer of the package is allowed to form aninner lining which is completely impervious to liquids. In the lattercase, the material for the strip may be selected irrespectively of thescaling function.

When the slot is U-shaped the insertion of the strip may be facilitatedif the packaging material while still in the nature of a web, i.e. priorto the tube forming operation proper, is laid in such a way over aroller that the tongue formed by the slot will project tangentially fromthe roller, at the same time as the legs of the U coincide with theperiphery of the roller.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent fromthe accompanying drawings, which show a couple embodiments of theinvention, chosen by way of example, and where:

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FIGURE 1 shows part of a web of a packaging material prepared for themanufacturing of packages according to the invention;

FIGURE 2 shows, on a larger scale, a package made from the web shown inFIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 shows, on a still larger scale, how the web according to FIGURE1 can be laid over a roller for facilitating the insertion of a stripinto the U-shaped slots;

FIGURE 4 shows a section through the web where the said strip has beenattached to both sides of the slot by heat-sealing;

FIGURE 5 shows a section corresponding to that shown in FIGURE 4 in analternative embodiment;

FIGURE 6, finally, shows an opened package differing somewhat from theclosed package shown in FIGURE 2.

The web 1 shown in FIGURE 1 and consisting of a packaging material,consists, as is shown in greater detail in FIGURE 3, of a carryingmaterial 2 of e.g. paper, which is coated on both sides with plasticlayers 3 and 4. In the web 1 there are punched U-shaped slots 5 whosebottoms are designated 6 and whose legs are designated 7. Through theseU-shaped slots 5 there are formed tongues 8 beneath which strips 9 areinserted, as shown at the top in FIGURE 1. The insertion of the strips 9beneath the tongues 8 is preferably facilitated, as shown in FIGURE 3,by placing the web 1 around a roller 10, whereby the strips 8 willproject tangentially from the roller. The strips 9 preferably consist ofa non-fibrous carrying layer 11, e.g. regenerated cellulose, which iscoated on both sides with layers 12 and 13 of heat-sealable plastic.Thereby the strip 9 can be attached to the web 1 on both sides of theslot by heat sealing between e.g. Teflon covered heating jaws, wherebythe opening device will obtain the appearance shown in FIGURE 4. Itshould be observed, however, that the thickness of the strip 9 has beenconsiderably enlarged in FIGURES 3 and 4 for the sake of better clarity.The same applies to the size of the slot 5 and the strip 9 in FIGURE 1.

From the web-shaped packaging material 1 shown in FIGURE 1 there areproduced packages of the kind shown in FIGURE 2 by tube-shaping,transverse sealing and suitable after-shaping operations. The packageshown in FIGURE 2 consists of a parallelepipedic body which is delimitedby lateral surfaces 14 and end surfaces 15, there being shaped, at theforming of the package, doublewalled triangular flaps 16 projecting fromthe end surfaces 15 of the package. The said flaps are normally foldedinward toward the lateral walls or the end walls. As will appear fromFIGURE 2, there is formed at the transverse sealing operation a sealingfin 17 extending across the end surfaces 15 and beyond the flaps 16. TheU-sha-ped slot 5 and the tongue 8 formed thereby are disposed, in theembodiment shown in FIGURE 2, in such a way that the bottom line 6 ofthe U is located parallel to the base line 18 of the fin between thesaid line and the upper border line 19 of the fin. The latter line,which is designated in FIGURE 1 by means of dash and dot lines, extendin the shown embodiment across the free ends of the U legs 7. If thetransverse scaling is carried out along the line marked with the arrowsAA in FIG- URE 1, there will be no sealing problems. Otherwise suchproblems may arise precisely with regard to the free ends of theU-shaped slot 5.

FIGURE 5 shows how a strip 9a passing through a packaging material Incan be :sealed on the inside of the package by means of a coated layer20a. This may be advisable where the strip 9a does not consist of acompletely liquid-repelling material or where it is desirable to achieveadditional security against leakage, e.g. when the opening device isunsuitably located on the package.

Finally, FIGURE 6 shows a package which essentially agrees with thepackage shown in FIGURE 2. However,

it differs from the said package as a result of the bottom line 6b ofthe U-shaped slot having been placed on the end surface 15b proper, i.e.outside the base line 18b of the fin 1912. Furthermore, the legs 7b and7c of the U- shaped slot have been displaced laterally in relation toeach other, whereby the package has obtained an opening which can besaid to be divided into two parts, viz the emptying opening 21b properand a venting slot departing therefrom and facilitating the emptyingoperation.

0 course, the invention is not restricted to the embodiment discussedabove but may be varied Within the scope of the claims. Thus, FIGURE 4is meant to show a transverse section through the strip 9 but mayinstead be considered to show a longitudinal section through it. In thatcase, FIGURE 4 shows how a strip can be displaced with its free endsfirst through the slot. It has furthermore been assumed that thematerial used above is laminated with heat-sealable plastic.Alternatively, however, it is possible to apply the invention touncoated materials, in which case the sealing can be achieved by meansof adhesive or the like. In addition, the shape and position of the slotmay, of course, be varied in dependence on the package to which theinvention is to be applied. Finally, it has turned out to be advisablein certain cases with regard to the embodiment shown in FIGURE 6 to letthe opening 21b and 22b occupy the opposite position on account oftensions in the fin 1%.

That which is claimed is:

1. Sheet material with an opening device therein comprising: a supply ofsheet material having at least one thermoplastic side, a substantiallyU-shaped slot through said material thereby forming a tongue in saidmaterial and a separate strip of material having at least onethermoplastic side heat sealed to the thermoplastic side of said sheetmaterial and located beneath said tongue and projecting outwardlytherefrom, said strip of material also being sealed to the other side ofsaid sheet material.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said other side of said sheetmaterial and said strip material being thermoplastic and being heatsealed together.

3. A package formed from a sheet material having an opening devicetherein comprising: said package having a substantially U-shapedslottherethroughthereby forming a tongue, and a separate .strip ofmaterial passing through said slot under said tongue and projectingoutwardly therefrom, said strip of material being attached to both theinside and outside of said package, said package having at least onetransverse seal on one end, said tongue being located at one end of saidseal and extending around both sides thereof.

4. The structure of claim 3 wherein said package is parallelepipedicshaped, said slot having a portion of one side thereof substantiallyparallel to the top of said package.

5. A package formed from a sheet material having an apening devicetherein comprising: said package having a substantially U-shaped slottherethrough thereby forming a tongue, and a separate strip of materialpassing through said slot under said tongue and projecting outwardlytherefrom, said strip of material being attached to both the inside andoutside of said package, said package being parallelepipedic shaped,said package having at least one triangular shaped, double walled flapprojecting from the end surface of the package, and the bottom of saidU-shaped slot extends across said end surface and said flap.

6. The structure of claim 5 wherein said strip of material projectsoutwardly further from said tongue on one side thereof than from theother side of said tongue.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,074,055 3/1937 Irwin 161110 X2,106,388 1/1938 Wise 229-51 2,123,262 7/1938 Townsend 22951 2,684,8077/1954 Gerrish 229-66 FOREIGN PATENTS 602,506 5/1948 Great Britain,

DONALD F. NORTON, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

